Page 60 - Appreciative Leadership

The Wisdom of Inquiry 33

truly values helping people learn. This leadership core value calls forth
her strengths as a teacher and coach. While she is able to eff ectively
work alone, she gets much less satisfaction doing so than when she is
able to help others build capacity.
Ralph is another example of how core leadership values create
a platform for the application of strengths. His core leadership val-
ues include a bias for action. When a situation requires action, his
strengths go to work. He scopes out a path forward, and he creates

draft plans, documents, and workshop materials. He solicits input

from a wide range of people, and then he finds the people who are
needed to get the job done. He values and gets great satisfaction in
making things happen; and he is good at doing so. People follow him
because it is clear what he expects for success: results!

What three to four things do you stand for as a
PAUSE
leader? What matters most to you? To discover
your core leadership values, reflect upon the past

few weeks or months at work and answer these questions:

• What gives you the most satisfaction at work?
• When do you feel good about your work?
• What are others able to do as a result of your leadership?
• What do you value most about yourself as a leader?
• Why do people respect you as a leader?

Now review your answers and identify the three or four values

that are embedded in them. They are the qualities, attributes, or char-
acteristics of work that you most value as a leader. They are what you

stand for as a leader, the reasons others follow you, what gives you sat-
isfaction at work, and what enables you to fully apply your strengths.
Once you have discovered your core leadership values, you

can use them as your expectations for excellence. They can serve as